My Very Brave Friend

I have a very brave friend who wrote a memoir about growing up sissy, and sexually abused, developing a fetish much like a addiction to ease the pain, pain compounded by a family of secrets.

Last Summer I was one of the people to proofread his memoir, I think right before he found a publisher, I was reluctant, I can be very blunt, and don't lie very well if I think something I have read is a pile of crap, and this is a good friend of mine that I work with everyday. I took one version home and didn't read it for a week, then a newer rewrite was available, and I forced myself to start... if it was bad, I would be part of the solution.

I could not stop reading this compelling story, so honestly told, so heartbreaking and heartwarming, at one point I was afraid I was friends with a sociopath... but... it works out.

He also writes a blog. And this is his Book. Now, Dennis is gay, and if you can't get past that, or think its some weird choice that people make, to be gay... well then you won't like or approve of this book, or of Dennis himself, that is okay, I don't want to hear about it though.

The post holiday gloom is a time when I feel I need to hide secrets away from ... I don't know... the biggest secret is my mom....

My relationship with my mom is the best it is ever going to be, the best arrangement is I call her three times a year, this year, I think I might send a card a month, but I don't know how long that will last. I have tried harder in the past, the return is the same. Before you say well you need to reach out more no matter what the "return" ... no. My mom wants an idealized daughter, if I call too much, that puts a damper on things, I might want her to remember something about whats going on in my life. When I called her the day after my surgery last year, she was confused, and had not even been worried or possibly aware I had had surgery, but maybe I'm selfish?

I wish it were better, but its as good as it gets, I can not make it any better, so, I think I will just call her three times a year.

But back to my friend....
I am going to see the play based on my friends memoir on Saturday, its going to be great.